PESHAWAR: A writ petition was filed on Friday in the Peshawar High Court challenging the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Narcotics Control (Amendment) Act 2022.
Iqbal Shah, a convict in a narcotics case, filed the petition. It seeks the grant of remission in sentence and the right to release on parole.The federal and provincial governments, the inspector general of prisons, and other authorities were named as respondents.
The petitioner contended that the amendment, which bars remission of sentence and probation for prisoners convicted in narcotics cases, is unconstitutional. He argued that depriving such prisoners of remission amounts to discriminatory treatment and violates fundamental human rights as well as Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law.
The petition requested the court to direct the relevant authorities to produce the petitioner’s prisoner data record, noting that he was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment by a trial court in Lahore in a narcotics case.
